You have no idea how good it feels to finally be back here, sharing a recipe with you. My life has been all sorts of crazy lately. Soon after I got my camera back from the repair place (it was gone nearly 20 days!!), we had company staying with us and then my sweet puppy Otis was bitten by a rattle snake.
Since then, it has been non stop Otis care, doing everything we can to get him well. At first his prognosis was not good at all - we were all prepared for the worst. But this crazy dog has too much life in him, the rattle snake wasn’t enough to bring him down. He’s home now, and expected to make a full recovery. It’s so incredible to be able to write out those words, we were so sure he wasn’t going to make it. We should probably rename him miracle!
In all the hullabaloo, the month of July passed me by in a blur. Only today have I had the time to get in the kitchen and bake up something new. I wanted to use what was in season, so I picked up a bunch of fruit from my local orchard. Blackberries, blueberries and plums galore.
This crisp is a celebration of August, with its late summer fruit, and a dash of cinnamon in the topping to hint at fall. It’s sweet, and a little tart, it may be my new favorite crisp recipe, the berry and plum combination is incredibly tasty.
Plum Berry Crisp
adapted from Epicurious
For filling
1 1/2 pounds purple plums, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (I used white sugar, as I was out of brown, you could cut down on the sugar if your fruit is super sweet!)
For topping
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits and softened
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in upper third.
Toss together all filling ingredients in a 2-quart shallow baking dish and bake 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, blend together all topping ingredients in a bowl with your fingertips until butter is evenly distributed and mixture is crumbly.
Stir fruit filling, then sprinkle oat mixture over it and bake until topping is crisp and golden and fruit is bubbling, about 30 minutes.
I have tons of berries left, so I thought I’d share my tips for freezing them fresh. I meant to take pictures but, well, I forgot!
1. wash and dry the berries throughly
2. lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet
3. freeze for about 2 hours
4. remove from freezer, place in zip lock bags
5. put them back in the freezer
6. enjoy a taste of summer even in the dead of winter!
Freezing them on the cookie sheet is the most important part, that way you don’t have big clumps of berries in your freezer. You can remove the amount you want to use without having to defrost the whole bag!
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